Have you ever seen a musician
perform live for the first time, expecting that musician or songwriter to be good,
only to be floored when you finally saw the performance? The first time I heard
Noah Zacharin’s recorded music was on fellow singer songwriter Douglas Eldon
Mclean’s Monday night blues and folk show, which airs Monday nights on Hunters
Bay Radio. I was impressed enough to download one of Noah’s album’s - Big Daddy
Z – and I quickly realized that this man is a formidable songwriter. When I met
him in person last Thursday at the Hunters Bay Radio station, for his “Live
Drive” performance, my first impression was that he was a soft-spoken,
introspective man. When he began to perform, his wry wit, humour, and
intelligence began to trickle out, and then he simply sucker punched both Shauna
and me with his talent. The reticent man was anything but when he began to
perform, and both Shauna and I were die-hard fans by the end of the set. Noah’s
skill as a guitarist, and his extremely thoughtful, beautifully crafted lyrics,
left me slack-jawed by the time his 45 minute performance was over. There are
good pickers everywhere in my ever expanding musical universe, and I’m learning
that there are a lot (too many in fact) of talented, under-recognized
songwriters as well. Noah is decidedly both. Last night at Hunters Bay Radio, Shauna
and I looked at each other right after Noah’s set, incredulous at what we had
heard. We went home and reviewed the entire performance on the Periscope video
Hunters Bay Radio puts up after these shows. I realized how much I’d failed to
absorb during the live performance, because there’s just so much going on with
this guy. If you are unfamiliar with his work, do yourself a favor and consult
YouTube for a performance or two to get up to speed. Two of my favorite songs
in the Thursday night show were “Can’t Wake Up” and “Ten Tons Of Road” but all
the songs he played were noteworthy. In the past year or so, as my education
into the art of song writing has taken an end run around the masters I have
always admired, I have been exposed to artists such as Jon Brooks, Rita
Chiarelli, Rob Lutes, Jason Isbell, Ryan Bingham, Gene Maclellan, Steve
Goodman, Dave Gunning, Mose Allison, Scott Nolan, Chuck Brodsky, Rick Fines,
Suzie Vinnick, and John Stewart, to name but a few. It has become glaringly
apparent to me how much I do not know about the exceptional songwriters, past
and present, floating around in the music universe. Until I began to air my
radio show, and began to research songs I like, I was in the dark. It is
because of our local community radio station, Hunters Bay Radio, and other like-minded
alternative radio stations, forums that go against the swelling tide of
soul-less, auto-tuned pop, that I have grown some perspective on how much good
music there is out there. Now I can add Noah Zacharin to my ever-expanding list
of gifted songwriters. Thank you Noah for that delightful performance last
Thursday night; what a pleasure it was to finally meet you! And thanks to
Hunters Bay Radio, and all the other community and college stations out there
that continue to present these wonderful artists. Noah, I look forward to
seeing you perform again, surrounded by a large and receptive audience at a
festival or concert hall. I am becoming harder and harder to impress these days,
but last Thursday night, you did that, in spades.
I write these reports, and I
write songs, and I do my little radio show about song writing, in hopes that I
will grow, improve, and learn. I become a better songwriter by watching,
reading, and listening to the writers I admire. There is so much wonderful
literature, poetry, music, and fine art out there to be appreciated, but I
think much of it is eclipsed by that which is deemed sellable, or “mainstream”.
Certainly, all art is subject to the tastes of the individual, but in my
opinion, the cream is not always rising to the top. My goal is to become a
better songwriter, and to perhaps bring some much deserved attention to those
artists whom I admire. But enough about me, what do YOU think of me?
Written by Jamie Oppenheimer
c2016 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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